Field Agentaru
by M3m0rii
Summary: Tenijeh Pharabuti, Mithra wanderer is under contract by the Optistery to field test their inventions... The only question is whether or not those inventions are worth the trouble they get her into.


A Mithra sat on the edge of the plateau, her legs dangling over the edge as the sun began to set across the plains and another day ended. Her legs kicked idly as the evening continued to pass, the sound of the rough-yet-worn dark purple of her gi pants brushing against each other comforting. Silver runes glinted off of the left sleeve of her gi top, laying beside her on the ground. Quite a sight, if anyone was around to take notice of it, but there was not. Instead of the leather halter that most Mithra wore to cover themselves, she wore a simple wrap of gauze over her chest, the neutral tan color offsetting against the peanut butter color of her skin. For now, she just watched the wind blow across the expanse.

Windurst. A land of rolling grass and canyons, rocky outcroppings of plateau and windswept expanse, waist high grass as far as the eyes could see. She found this nation much to her liking. Whenever she ventured out onto the plains of Sarabutaruta, she could not help the rumbling chuckle at the thought of the Taru adventurers having to wade through grass twice as tall as they were. It certainly had to make targeting spells rather difficult for the mages.. It even made it difficult for her, often finding the tops of the grasses waving under her nose in the gentle breezes of the plain in the end of summer. This place was a vast change from the jungle-island that was her home, but as she watched from her seat on the plateau, the sun slowly descended over the tips of the mountain edge to leave a growing shadow in its wake. That shadow spread over the expanse that rippled like waves moving across a grassy ocean, and she smiled in response. This place was home as well. Her second home.

The setting of the sun brought a cool breeze that ruffled her fur and lifted her hair, making her smile in contentment. The life of an adventurer was rather enjoyable times like this, but it was time to work. Past the edge of the plateau, the plains were cooling, and night was falling. To her southeast, the lights of Windurst were winking on one by one, like sleepy fireflies... The undead would wake soon, and they would be coming out not too long after.

This was her appointed job not too long after she had arrived and heard the stories about the dead starting to encroach upon the living. Since the Taru at the Optistery had gotten wind of her actions, it became a decent job.. A job that they paid a nice retainer for, she had to admit. There were some requirements for the job, though. Since she was a paid "field agent(-aru)" for the Optistery, she got assigned pieces of equipment from time to time, for use in the field. Many of them were creations from the Taru, bits and pieces meant to test this theory and that, others to gather data. Tonight's equipment was a pair of bracers that hung from her waist, rather curious pieces of something that seemed to be metal, and yet somehow seemed far more alive than any simple weapon or armor. She did not ask what they were, though she thought the Taskmaster had seemed a little.. 'Excited' as he gave them to her along with the operation instructions, though she was never really certain... These Taru were so.. flighty sometimes, it was hard to tell one degree of excitement from another.

Either way, the Taru had asked her to test this equipment while doing her nightly rounds. Since she was about to start, she dug out and read the folded sheet of parchment that were the instructions for whatever it was that they gave her this time.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"With these bracers on your arms"  
"Hold in your hand these seven charms"  
"Se-lect two, and save the rest"  
"For these two will be with what you test." 

"Oh! but one thing that is amiss,"  
"Add to the two the catalyst"  
"One by one by one combine"  
"The reaction result is the fuel, you'll find.."

-Dejiko Santiko 1st-tchnm  
("what we need is a performance review, so thus, return when your job is through)  
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Shaking her head at the penchant Taru had for rhyming, as well as their other quirks, she pushed herself up to stand, she picked up the gi top and slid it on, tying the belt around it before she slid the bracers onto her arms. Then poured the seven crystals into her hand. Fire and Light were the ones she chose, the other five going back into the bag.

A brief sigh, and she pulled the tiny vial of opaque liquid, holding it in her hand with the two crystals. The hard part... The hard part was managing this combination.

_ooo_

_Excerpted from Ohlo-Ommoro's "Crystal Theory"_

_ "There is an equilibrium that-aru exists within the crystals once one was called to life. That-aru equilibrium balanced-walanced the energy inside the crystals. If that-aru balance slides too far-ar out of line (figuratively speaking), that-aru usually results in crystals shattering, and materials being lost-aru"  
ooo_

The items in her hands, she knelt and said a small prayer to the Star Sibyl, hope and mostly wishing that the creations of these taru would not get her killed inadvertently, before she spread her hands and willed the first crystal to set itself alight.

The light crystal began to spin, dissolving into a high pitched whine that climbed higher and higher into inaudibility as it did, its core flaring to a bright white the color of sunlight off of the purest Beaucedine snow. She never noticed because her eyes were closed and focusing on holding the energy in balance as she awoke the fire crystal. Orange flared, pure fire at its truest, tinting the flare from the light crystal into a warmth that shed across the plateau like a tiny sun.

The mages watching from the Optistery's roof saw a beacon of light grow into being; white like the full moon, almost so bright it hurt to look at, before it changed, muting and shifting into a radiant shine like the sun had set itself upon that plateau edge, wavering and then holding steady in its light. That sparked a flurry of debate among the Taru watching as they tried to fathom what crystals had been used and why.

Back on the plateau, she was still focused on keeping the crystals balanced as it had gotten twice as hard. the energy from the light crystal had been buoyed by the fire, and she wasted no time in adding the vial into the balance.

To the watchers on the roof (for those that were not debating, which was few) the light dimmed, coalesced into a single point around the vial as it was added into the mixture.

She did not see that either, her eyes still closed as she struggled to keep the energy even, feeling the vial being combined into he matrix she was willing to sustain before it was taken out of her hands. Literally. As the Catalyst, Light, and Fire crystals reached equilibrium, she felt a stirring in her arms.. Not her arms, more accurately the curious bracers on aher arms. She felt the balance complete and then, instead of the sound of completion, that echoing clap of air that usually came, she heard it all begin to mist away with a _'sssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh'_, as it was stolen out of her control.

Her eyes opening in dismay as the control was taken from her, she saw the matrix between her hands turning into so much dust in the air, and trailing around her arms to suffuse the bracers, making them warm briefly with a glow that seemed to be muted sunshine. That then quieted into a sense of contained, living power that lingered around and in the bracers. Potential power.

Standing, she looked at her hands and arms in amazement, examining them for any changes. She found none and let her hands fall back to her sides, looking at the plains below her with a predatory smile...

Tenijeh was on the job, and tonight was going to be fun.


End file.
